1. Field of the Invention:
The present invention relates to a tape recorder. More particularly, it relates to an improvement of a head moving mechanism.
2. Description of Prior Art:
FIG. 1 shows the conventional head moving mechanism of a cassette tape recorder. A head (3) is positioned facing a tape (2) held in a cassette casing (1). The head (3) is secured on a head base (4) on which a movable pin (5) is set. A fixed pin (6) is set on a main base (10) so as to enter into a guide hole (7) formed in the head base (4). In this state, the head base (4) with the head (3) is movable in the longitudinal direction of the guide hole (7). The head base (4), pulled by a pair of springs (8), is moved towards the tape (2) until the fixed pin (6) make contact with the extreme end of the guide hole (7), that is, the front surface of the head (3) is brought into contact with the tape (2). On the other hand, when the head (3) is moved backwards, it is necessary to carry out two manual operations; the first operation for moving the head base (4) backwards via the movable pin (5) by a component of operational force and the second operation for engaging a hook (9) with a movable pin (5) after the completion of the first operation. Therefore, if a single manual operation is desired instead of the two separate operations, an additional mechanism must be incorporated.
In order to add the function of taking the tape out at a portion in which desired data is recorded, that is, a heading function, it is necessary to position the head (3) at a slightly rearward position (normally, in the range between 1 mm and 2 mm), but should not move to the rearmost position. It is, therefore, in this case, necessary to provide a mechanism which sets the position of the head (3) at three different positions. However, there has not been known a mechanism for performing the operation described above except for the structure as shown in FIG. 1 in which two head moving mechanisms are provided. This structure has the disadvantages of making it complicated and requiring larger finger pressure in the manual operation.